Hamilton: Our spirit at Mercedes is better than ever

Speaking to the official Formula 1 website, Hamilton said, “I really could only have dreamed that we would be in the position that we are in right now, considering all factors and based on our pure performance, where we stand compared to the Ferraris."

Title rival Sebastian Vettel began the season with a couple of wins, but the German fumbled badly when he crashed out of the lead during his home German Grand Prix which cost him 25 valuable points and then failed to capitalise with a stronger car in Hungary which allowed Hamilton to extend his lead even further.

The Englishman added, “I’m really happy, going into the break, particularly with back-to-back wins. I think that boost will last a long time for our team and it’s encouraging for everyone so I’m excited for the break."

“Second half is usually... it gets a bit better on our side so we will go and prepare and make sure we come back even stronger.”

“We’ve got work to do, we’ve got things to improve, we’ve got performance to bring moving forwards. We’ve got to try and catch them [Ferrari] – but we’ve got to continue to keep rising with all the other elements, which allows us to beat Ferrari when they don’t bring their A game."

“I don’t believe there’s ever a moment that you’ve got your hands on the title or the trophy. We’ve got a long, long way still to go and there’s still nine races."

“So a lot can happen moving forward but what’s really important is that we continue to keep up the pressure and keep working as we have done until now."

“There’s nothing we really need to alter. I think our work ethic has been very strong and the team morale is better than ever and the spirit is better than ever.”

As it stands, with nine rounds remaining in the championship, Hamilton has five wins to Vettel's four with 225 points on the table between the next round at Spa-Francorchamps and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.